Requirement
The overall requirement is to be able to offer a wider range of "default surname" on "Add Child" and on "Add a parent". It has two features:
- Currently the default behaviour is controlled by a check box: "Insert father's surname when creating children". The requirement is that this should also control the adding of a default surname when creating a father or mother.
- Currently the default behaviour is controlled by a check box: "Insert father's surname when creating children". The requirement is to enable a wider range of options.
This offers more functionality to existing users (in patrilineal families) and to a wider range of potential users (in non-patrilineal families) and from a marketing point of view makes the product less Anglo-centric.
Notes
The current option is controlled by a checkbox A. Basic Changes - to enable others
1. If the current behaviour is changed to a pull-down list, the current options would be:
- None - equivalent of unchecked
- Patrilineal - equivalent of what we have at the moment
2. If this behaviour can be set at family level we can then potentially handle the situation when an individual marries into a family with different surnaming practices. So for instance whilst most of a project follows the Patrilineal convention descendents of that couple might follow a different convention (so we would use option "None" under current choices). This could be implemented by a line on the Property Box / Focus Window between the parents and the children that contains the pull-down list detailed in (1) above - but applying to just that family. The choice could be held in a FH specific system variable held on the Family Record.
3. Bi-directional. If Patrilineal is specified, when we create a father, the father's surname should default to that of his first child.
For other possible options (see below) it may also be possible to define other "back in time" defaults for parents subsequently entered.
B. Options then available
We can then consider other options. For instance:
1. Repeat. A useful extra option could be:
- None - equivalent of unchecked
- Patrilineal - equivalent of what we have at the moment
- Repeat - for subsequent children use the same surname as the previous child.
2. Matrilineal
- None - equivalent of unchecked
- Patrilineal - equivalent of what we have at the moment
- Matrilineal - insert mother's surname
- Repeat - for subsequent children use the same surname as the previous child.
The program logic is very similar to the existing patrilineal option.Wikipedia wrote:Patrilineal surname transmission was not always the norm in Spanish-speaking societies. Prior to the mid-eighteenth century,[citation needed] when the current paternal-maternal surname combination norm was adopted, Hispanophone societies often practised matrilineal surname transmission, giving children the maternal surname and ...
If Bi-directional is implemented, selecting Matrilineal means when we create a mother, the mother's surname defaults to that of her first child.
3. Handling Illegitimacy in Patrilineal Cultures
- None - equivalent of unchecked
- Patrilineal - equivalent of what we have at the moment
- Patrilineal+ - but use mother's surname if father is unknown
- Matrilineal - insert mother's surname
- Repeat - for subsequent children use the same surname as the previous child.